Lady Gaga wearing a white rose supporting the Times Up campaign at the Grammys last month. Photograph: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

After sartorial support was shown for the Times Up and #MeToo movements at the Golden Globes and the Grammys, the Brit awards are following suit. The awards organising body, the British Phonographic Industry, has invited artists and guests attending the 2018 ceremony to wear a white rose pin as a symbol of solidarity although the memo doesnt specify the cause.

The Guardian understands the BPI consulted industry figures on how to acknowledge the issue of sexual harassment and abuse in the arts. The body ultimately partnered with Voices in Entertainment, the American collective of female executives that asked artists to wear white roses to the Grammys. If the Brit awards can help shine a light on such a sensitive topic, our hope is that it will ultimately help, says the awards chair, Jason Iley.

Speaking via email after declining a conversation, Iley explains the BPIs decision: We felt the ongoing conversation around equality and harassment in the workplace could not be ignored by the UK music community. Asked about the scale of sexual harassment in British music, he says every single industry faces these kinds of unacceptable problems, and expresses certainty that the industry is addressing its former issues with inequality. The BPI has not planned any topical speeches or performances for the ceremony, preferring to leave artists and presenters freedom to exercise this right on the night, Iley says.

The tribute has met with a mixed response. I personally will not be wearing a flower, not because I dont have sympathy with the cause I myself have experienced sexual harassment but I feel however well-intentioned this action is, we should all be focused on creating meaningful change, says Vick Bain, chief executive of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. She cites a need for labels, publishers and radio playlisters to commit to total equality, and to support and promote women throughout their careers so they dont up and leave, as is currently the situation.

Paul Pacifico, chief executive of the Association of Independent Music, says: I appreciate the BPIs efforts to highlight the issue, but we already know there is a problem.

And Jane Third, global chief creative officer at the record label PIAS, welcomes the news, saying every little helps, but she wants key industry figures to lay out concrete plans to tackle discrimination. There have been enough warnings from women in the industry that this time would eventually come, and organisations need to decide whether they want to keep step or be left in the cold.

The Brits mild display is commensurate with the British music industrys relative lack of a public reckoning with sexual harassment. Speaking on behalf of the umbrella organisation UK Music, the BPI spokesperson Ayesha Hazarika says: Individual companies and organisations take the issue very seriously and are taking steps to engage with staff, setting out guidelines and making it clear that there is no place for harassment, bullying or discrimination in their workplace.

Nash says she is fortunate never to have experienced anything that extreme, but reflects on the seedy dynamic that underpinned her early career as a teenage songwriter plucked from MySpace: Middle-aged men buying you drinks, trying to get you to sign contracts that arent artist-friendly. She says she had no pastoral care from her label at the time Fiction, a subsidiary of Universal and that despite writing her own material was told to give up more of my songwriting than I felt was fair. I got advised all by men to give up on the fight because of how bad it could be for me in the press if it came out.

After any scandal involving sexual harassment or inequality, the music industry often launches mentoring initiatives aimed at women rather than the men in positions of power. Given that the issue nonetheless persists, some have questioned the efficacy of such schemes. Pacifico says he would like to see more mixed mentoring, and Third adds: Anything that puts the emphasis back on the system and away from women is good. Dont patronise women by saying, We can show you the way. She says she has experienced bullying and sexual harassment during her 20-plus years in the business, but refused to ever quit a job over it. When youre a woman in music, you have to have such strong boundaries.

The Brit awards take place on Wednesday 21 February at the O2 Arena in London, and will be broadcast live on ITV.